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The Tanuki, or Racoon Dog
Comedian Yuriko Kotani returns to the pod to tangle with a shapeshifting trickster. The tanuki (or racoon dog) is both a real animal and a very cheeky yōkai. (That’s a spirit in Japanese folklore, but you probably knew that.) This furry little fellow is famed for his enormous… that is to say his massive… well… he’s got a lot of chutzpah, let’s leave it at that.
But who’s that by the side of the road? A crying loreman? A tricksy tanuki? Or could it be Japan’s chilling faceless ghost… the noppera-bō?
Credits:
The Loremen are Alasdair Beckett-King & James Shakeshaft. Featuring guest Loreperson, Yuriko Kotani.
Featured image from Tanuki Fishing in the River, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1843–44.
Music from La Lettre De Manon Valse played by Megone’s Orchestra, 1905.